Readings for Palm Sunday

Fr. Steven Ritter finishes his look at the Sunday readings of Lent with this week’s episode on Palm Sunday. The readings are Philippians 4:4-9 and John 12:1-18.

St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians 4:4-9
Brethern, rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord is at hand. Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, do; and the God of peace will be with you.

The Gospel of John 12:1-18
Six days before Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazaros was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. There they made him a supper; Martha served, and Lazaros was one of those at table with him. Mary took a pound of costly ointment of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was to betray him), said “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” This he said, not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box he used to take what was put into it. Jesus said, “Let her alone, let her keep it for the day of my burial. The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”

When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came, not only on account of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus also to death, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.

The next day a great crowd who had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” And Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it; as it is written, “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!” His disciples did not understand this at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that this had been written of him and had been done to him. The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazaros out of the tomb and raised him from the dead bore witness. The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign.

I have exciting news! This week, the Orthodox Christian Network surpassed 500,000 Facebook fans, making our ministry the largest Orthodox Christian presence on the internet. Thank you! Because of your support;

– Our programs have a weekly reach of five million people on Facebook.

– 75% of our fans are under the age of 34.

– OCN is watched, read and listened to in 196 countries.

Please join us in celebrating this tremendous success by giving to the “10 Cent A Day” campaign. 100% of your gift will go directly to expanding this ministry, 0% to overhead. Help us continue our mission of comforting, inspiring and informing the next generation of Orthodox Christians, persecuted Christians and faith-seekers around the world.

On behalf of all of the Orthodox Christian Network, I thank you for 20 years of support for our beloved ministry.